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Marco Rubio wins big praise from Rush Limbaugh

He continued: “And unfortunately this is an issue… where things are often demagogued or described in a way that are not accurate. And I think that the more people are aware of what we’re for and we’re not for, the more empowered we are as a movement.”

Rubio’s appearance comes the day after he and other members of the Gang of Eight senators — including Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), among others — announced a broad, bipartisan immigration overhaul Monday at press conference in Washington, just as Obama is expected to announce his own proposal later Tuesday in Las Vegas.

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Earlier in the show before the Rubio interview, Limbaugh questioned whether Obama even wants to compromise because then he won’t be able to “beat the Republicans’ heads.”

“My question is does the president really want an immigration reform bill on his desk that he can sign, or would he prefer to have this as an ongoing, unsolved issue over which he can beat the Republicans’ heads?” Limbaugh said. “He can talk all day long about his balanced approach and about how Republicans refuse to meet him half way when it’s the exact opposite in reality.”

He continued: “I think the president is having a grand ol’ time, folks. I think he is enjoying beating the Republicans up left and right. I think he’s enjoying the media helping him do that. I think he’s having the time of his life. Why stop now? He knows he can get this immigration thing anytime he wants it. Why go ahead now?”

Among other results, the senators’ plan would create a pathway to citizenship for the country’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, provided that the U.S. boosts its border security enforcement measures.

But the proposal’s authors have faced criticism among some liberal and conservatives alike, who say the plan either goes too far or not far enough.

On Monday, Limbaugh was one of those conservative critics. The conservative shock-jock said on his program Monday that it’d be up to him and Fox News to stop amnesty for illegal immigrants.

“I mean, thanks to Obama you have amnesty unless you get convicted of a major felony. So I don’t know that there’s any stopping this. It’s up to me and Fox News, and I don’t think Fox News is that invested in this. I don’t think there’s any Republican opposition to this of any majority consequence or size,” Limbaugh said Monday.

He later added that the GOP was abandoning their principles on immigration in a similar way to how they abandoned their support for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s 2008 running mate.

“The Republicans’ reaction is sort of what happened to Sarah Palin. The media destroyed her, so the Republicans said, ‘The only way out of this is to kick her out of the party. The only way that we can survive is for us to publicly distance ourselves from Sarah Palin,’” Limbaugh said Monday.

He continued: “Rather than defend her, rather than do what they could to make the case that she was trying to make, just throw her overboard. Here with immigration they say, ‘Okay! All right!’”